Blogito ergo sum! Actually, as N.T. Wright averred, "'Amor, ergo sum:' I am loved, therefore I am." Among other things, I am a Roman Catholic deacon. This is a public cyberspace in which I seek to foster Christian discipleship in the late modern milieu in the diakonia of koinonia and in the recognition that "the Eucharist is the only place of resistance to annihilation of the human subject."

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Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Complex questions have complex, not simple, answers

The great journalist H.L. Mencken is often quoted as observing that in politics "for every complex question there is a simple answer". In a comment on an earlier post, David expressed a frustration that, I think, is one faced by many of us who are believing, practicing Christians: "All sorts of people lead long lives believing in one thing,or in something else, or in not much at all. Some people change beliefs while others don't. Some end their lives in confusion. Its a mystery to me. Is there a doctrine that explains the multiplicity of faiths and belief systems? Can the Truth be measured? Will it always yields the same results when manipulated?"

Truth, the kind with a capital T is, properly speaking meta physical. Therefore, the answer to the last question David asks is "No". However, Truth can be measured, not with instruments, etc., but by one's life. To this end, at the last Communion & Liberation worldwide gathering, known as the The Meeting (No, not "the Meadows" of So I Married an Axe Murderer fame- my wife's all-time favorite movie), which is held annually in Rimini, Italy, philosopher Francesco Ventorino, professor of Ontology and Ethics at the Studio Teologico S. Paolo di Catania, answers this question better than I ever could:

"Man rejects the truth because he does not know what to seek, does not know this truth which has set out in search of man. In some way, the initiative is the truth's, is God's, and man, provoked by this initiative, responds to God's yes with his own small yes. This is the Church's reply to the skepticism of the world."

As far as a doctrine that explains the multiplicity of faiths I offer my best hack from this blog, a post entitled You will know them by their fruits, along with a follow up post called An addendum from slightly more than a year ago.

About Me

I am husband and Dad to six lovely children. I am also a Roman Catholic deacon of the Diocese of Salt Lake City. I married in 1993, became a Dad for the first time in 1994 and most recently in 2011 (quite a spread). I was was ordained in 2004. After serving as a deacon for 11 years at The Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City (8 years before I was ordained for a total of 19 years), I am now assigned to St Olaf's Parish in Bountiful, Utah. I am a graduate of the University of Utah and the Institute in Pastoral Ministry at St. Mary's University of Minnesota. I am currently a candidate for a Doctorate in Ministry (D.Min) at Mount Angel Seminary, Oregon.

Madeleine Delbrêl

"We fashion the immortal being we are through our choices. Through our choices we bring the man in us to the fullness of life or to the worst of human suffering. At the hour of his death each human being has become either a person who will live with God forever, or who will be without God forever" Madeleine Delbrêl

St. Paul

"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect" (Rom. 12:1-2)

Two men I greatly admire

BXVI w/ Abp Rowan

C.S. Lewis

“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: 'What! You too? I thought I was the only one'” Lewis